lo there all,
i am running apache2 on ubuntu-dapper. I am using virtual hosting w/ about 7 sites. All of these are php and html sites. Now i am wanting to do some testing and learning with ruby rails, but i don't want to mess up my main config or anything.

so, can i run rails on the same computer ? rails, by default runs on port 3000, how could i set something like that up with my dns ? i use zoneedit for dns right now. lets say i wanted a new domain for rails like nephishrails.com and set my ip up at zoneedit. Would i put my ip plus my port number ? xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:3000
or could i just serve it from a doc root like my other sites in /var/www/somewebsite/web_root. And would i configure apache the same way and serve the rails stuff on port 80 ?

lots of questions, i know, but i just wanted some tips or links to good docs if anyone has them or any experience with trying this out.

SO, if you have read this far, bless you, and thanks for your time.

I don't use Ruby on Rails myself, but can give a few pointers

Ruby on Rails is designed to run alongside Apache so no problem installing on the same machine.

DNS only handles a hostname to IP address translation. The port number is not included in DNS. So you cannot change the port number using DNS.

You could use the Apache Redirect directive

For an entire virtual host just use
Redirect http://mysite.com:3000

or if you want a specific directory to redirect you could use:
Redirect /ruby http://mysite.com:3000

You could setup more complex rules using RedirectMatch directives http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_alias.html
or mod_rewrite for the ultimate flexibility http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/misc/rewriteguide.html

See the following guide to mod_rewrite (although it is based on directory names, not port numbers)
Apache mod_rewrite mini tutorial

Hey thanks for this.
i got a book for rails dev yesterday and this was the first thing i looked up.
Apparently i can run a rails app from an apache virtual host directory on port 80, so i would map it just like any other virt host that i have.
your info is handy though because at work i wanted to test out a php package and didn't want to use port 80 for that just yet.

so thanks for your time and help

Hi Nephish,

We actually run RoR along with apache on our hosting servers. We use the FastCGI module to load it up. It's become pretty popular with hosting clients.

cool. thanks for this.